𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡

Ch. 23 - The Family Ties & Lies

"Mom..." The simple word fell out of my mouth.

I felt my heart flooding in my chest as I stared at the delighted woman on Jack's laptop. I hadn't seen or heard from my mother in nearly a month, maybe even longer. Seeing her infectious smile, a smile that was also said to be identical to mine, was an amazing refreshment. That same sunny disposition always was.

"Well, if it isn't two of my favorite family members?" My mother's cheerful greetings flowed out of the laptop speaker and into the room. Despite the smothered space between Jack and I, her comforting voice allowed me a measure of ease.

"Took you long enough to call, Mom! How's everything?" A smile carved its way onto my face.

"Oh, we can talk about all that later..." My mom swatted her hand through the air as if to dismiss the topic. "I'm more interested in you guys. How's this month been? Are you two getting sick of each other yet?"

A scoff threatened to slip out of me at her remark. I know she means it as a joke, but mom has no idea just how right she is. I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to have to lie to my own mother.

I have never been comfortable with lying to her, though the action was not totally foreign to me. I have had to invent several excuses in the past to keep her ignorant of life here.

But right now was painfully different.

She wasn't blindly speaking into the receiving end of a telephone five thousand miles away. And she wan't just making a simple phone call to the daughter she left to live with her half brother back in America.

She was staring directly at me through a video screen, with all the happiness of the world sparkling in her eyes.

Jack took my moment of hesitation as an opportunity to insert himself into the conversation by leaning further into the camera. "Hardly. We're just as fine as the last time you called. Isn't that right, Patience?" The arm that he had strategically rested over the head of my chair tightened around the back of my neck.

It was a silent but clear message that was not meant to go unmissed. Play along, or you'll regret it. I chewed my lip in nervousness.

"Yup, as fine as the last time you called..." I forced myself to repeat Jack's lie, but did my best not to meet her eyes. Instead I focused my thoughts on giving the words a different meaning. My uncle and I were obviously not fine. And the last time my mother was in contact, Jack was just as cruel then as he is now. So for me to say that we're just as fine as we were last month, is technically the truth.

We were very un-fine then, and we are just as un-fine now.

"Oh Jack, could you do me a favor and turn the computer a little more towards Patience. She seems to be a bit out of the camera..." Mom pointed at us through the camera and waved her finger in my direction. In my discomfort, I hadn't even noticed I had been subtly scooting out of Jack's grasp.

Jack obliged, and mom went back into conversation, apologizing for her lack of contact in the past month. She continued in her joyful banter, telling us about all the fiascoes she and my sister have been getting into over in England. I, of course, eagerly listened. Jack on the other hand, remained beside me pretending to be interested, but in reality he kept peering out of the corner of his eye at the boxing match unraveling on the television.

A spark of anger erupted inside of me.

Why do I have to wait over a month to speak to my own family, and when I finally -FINALLY- get the chance, the only person in the world that I truly hate, has his arm wrapped around my shoulder?